Date: February 1792

"Whatever wisdom constituently is, it is like a seedless plant; it may be reared when it appears, but it cannot be voluntarily produced."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1792

"But indeed, a little consideration will soon enable us to account for the ignorance of mankind in this interesting particular; and will teach us, that it solely arises from those baneful habits of perverse reasoning, which have from time to time immemorial taken root in the minds of men, and hav...

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)

Date: 1793

"It is of great importance that this idea should be extirpated."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"For her own child, all the feelings of a parental bosom vegetated in luxuriance."

— Anonymous [By an American Lady]

Date: 1793

"Mrs. Leason has one child, blessed with good natural abilities, and educated by a less indulgent parent, she might have shone in a domestic character, but when the idea is instilled in the youthful mind, that it is to be indulged in all its wishes, let the disposition be ever so pleasing, the so...

— Anonymous [By an American Lady]

Date: 1793

"If the mind is a barren waste, of what avail are the beauties of the most lovely face, the elegance of the most enchanting shape, the grace of the most accomplished person; the imperceptible hand of time will deprive them of every external charm, and eclipse the lustre of the most penetrating eye."

— Anonymous [By an American Lady]

Date: 1793

"A skilful writer of anecdotes, gratifies by suffering us to make something that looks like a discovery of our own; he gives a certain activity to the mind, and the reflections appear to arise from ourselves. He throws unperceivably seeds, and we see those flowers start up, which we believe to be...

— Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)

Date: 1793

"Marville says, that the famous orators in the pulpit and at the bar, of his time, used to read the finest passages of the poets, to germinate those seeds of eloquence which nature had scattered in their souls."

— Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"Her indulgent tenderness, the frankness of her temper, and my innate rising curiosity, soon removed all distance between us: like friends of an equal age, we freely conversed on every topic, familiar or abstruse; and it was her delight and reward to observe the first shoots of my young ideas."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"While I served in the militia, before and after the publication of my essay, this idea ripened in my mind; nor can I paint in more lively colours the feelings of the moment, than by transcribing some passages, under their respective dates, from a journal which I kept at that time."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)